"Thank you."
Kagome wasn't simply being polite. She took out the small glass bottle that held the Shikon Jewel shards and carefully placed the three fragments from the table inside. Once she sealed it again, she looked up at Kikyo with a hesitant expression.
"Kikyo… um, about Kagura…"
"You want to know if Kagura was here, right?" Kagetsu spoke first, his tone calm. "That's correct. She was here a moment ago. She left after making a deal with us."
"As for where she went afterward, I'm not sure. She may have already returned to Naraku's castle."
"A deal? What kind of deal?" Inuyasha immediately grew tense and turned to Kikyo. "Kikyo, don't let her fool you! That woman is Naraku's incarnation!"
"I know she is Naraku's incarnation," Kikyo replied calmly. "But I can't tell you the details of our agreement."
"Why not?" Inuyasha asked, baffled.
Kikyo gave him a somewhat helpless look before answering seriously.
"Because you shout everything you hear. If I told you, Naraku would learn about it immediately,and Kagura would be in danger."
"That really does sound like something you'd do," Shippō said solemnly, nodding in agreement.
"Shippō!" Inuyasha snapped, glaring at him.
"See? You're shouting right now," Shippō said, pointing at him with a completely justified expression.
Inuyasha froze in place, furious but unable to refute the accusation.
Thwack!
Instead of arguing further, he simply bonked Shippō on the head.
"Inuyasha… you've changed quite a bit," Kikyo said softly, a hint of emotion in her voice.
"In the past, on the night of the New Moon when you lost your demonic power, you would always hide yourself away. You wouldn't have followed Kagome out to search for Shikon Jewel shards like this."
"Inuyasha…"
The sound of Kikyo's voice seemed to pull him back through time.
A memory surfaced in his mind.
It had also been a night of the New Moon.
Back then, he had lost his demonic power and happened to encounter Kikyo after she had just fought a demon. Her clothes had been torn and disheveled, yet she had still stood strong in front of him.
His gaze drifted to the hands Kikyo and Kagetsu held together.
Then he felt Kagome's presence beside him.
After a brief silence, he nodded quietly.
"I didn't feel safe letting Kagome come alone."
Kikyo looked at him for a long moment before turning her gaze toward Kagome, her expression serious.
"Kagome, you must become stronger. Inuyasha needs your protection now."
"Fifty years ago, I protected him when he lost his demonic power. Now… it's your turn."
"Yes! I will!" Kagome nodded vigorously.
She turned toward the black-haired Inuyasha, her eyes filled with determination.
"I'll definitely protect Inuyasha!"
"Tch. Like I need her protection," Inuyasha muttered stubbornly, turning his head away.
But when he looked into Kagome's determined eyes, a warm feeling stirred in his chest.
"…."
Kagome clenched her fists and forced herself to resist the urge to punch him.
"Hehe."
Watching the two of them, Kikyo seemed to glimpse a reflection of herself and Inuyasha from long ago. A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"Although, speaking of which… even when you still had your demonic power back then, you couldn't beat me."
Inuyasha stared at her as more memories resurfaced.
He opened his mouth, then finally smiled.
"I'm a lot stronger now."
The atmosphere in the room felt strangely awkward.
Unable to stand it any longer, Kagome hurriedly changed the subject.
"Kikyo, are you and Kagetsu living in this shrine now?"
"Yes." Kikyo nodded. "Demons had taken over this shrine before. Kagetsu and I drove them away, so we've been staying here temporarily."
"If anything happens in the future, you can come here to find me."
While the conversation continued, Kagetsu's attention remained fixed on Inuyasha.
The crimson Mangekyō Sharingan quietly appeared in his eyes as he carefully observed Inuyasha's body.
Within the Sharingan's vision, the flow of energy inside Inuyasha became clearly visible.
On the surface, he truly seemed like an ordinary human. There were no fluctuations of demonic power at all.
But with closer observation, Kagetsu noticed something unusual.
A vast amount of demonic energy was actually hidden deep inside Inuyasha's body.
It was simply… frozen.
Like water sealed beneath thick ice, the energy remained perfectly still, completely suppressed.
Kagetsu glanced at Shippō beside him. Although the little fox demon's power was weak, it flowed naturally and vibrantly through his body.
"Interesting… so the demonic power hasn't vanished," Kagetsu murmured in realization. "It's being suppressed by the human bloodline."
That explained why Inuyasha's demonic power couldn't be sensed.
The suppressed energy was as motionless as solid ice. To outside perception, it felt no different from a stone lying on the ground,naturally impossible to detect.
It also explained why his power returned instantly after sunrise.
The demonic energy wasn't being regenerated.
Instead, the suppressed energy simply returned to normal,like ice melting back into water.
Once the suppression disappeared, the demonic power flowed freely again in an instant.
"Hey. What exactly are you staring at?" Inuyasha asked uneasily. Being watched by those crimson Sharingan made his skin crawl.
"It's nothing," Kagetsu said as the Sharingan faded from his eyes. "I was just curious about your current condition."
"But now I've figured it out."
"It's actually quite fascinating."
"Kagetsu, what did you discover?" Kikyo and Kagome both asked curiously.
"The demonic power inside Inuyasha hasn't disappeared," Kagetsu explained openly. "It's only temporarily suppressed by the human bloodline within him,like water frozen into ice."
"That's why no one can sense it."
"Really? His demonic power didn't disappear?" Kagome looked at Inuyasha in amazement.
"Is that so?" Inuyasha placed a hand over his chest, equally surprised. This was the first time he had ever heard such an explanation.
Kagetsu looked at the two of them with a slightly mischievous smile.
"To be honest, when I saw Inuyasha turn human tonight, I was curious about something."
"If Inuyasha had a child with Kagome while he's human… would the child be human or a half-demon?"
"Now I understand."
"Even on the night of the New Moon, the demon blood isn't gone,it's just suppressed."
"So the child would still be a half-demon."
The moment those words left his mouth, Inuyasha and Kagome froze.
They looked at each other at the exact same time.
Their faces turned bright red instantly.
Both of them quickly looked away again.
"C-Child?!" Kagome stammered, her face burning red. "W-Who would have a child with him?!"
Seeing them both so embarrassed they looked ready to burst into flames, a mischievous glint flashed in Kikyo's eyes.
She deliberately pretended to look confused.
"Oh? You don't like Inuyasha?"
"Or are you saying you don't plan to have children in the future?"
She paused thoughtfully.
"Although… your children would probably still be half-demons, right?"
With Kikyo calmly adding fuel to the fire, Kagome's face turned as red as a ripe tomato.
She hurriedly grabbed Shippō and jumped to her feet.
"We,we're leaving now!"
"Sango and Miroku are still chasing Kagura,we need to go help them!"
Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Inuyasha's wrist and practically dragged him toward the door, fleeing the shrine without looking back.